


Protective

by ninjawrites



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Pidge | Katie Holt, Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Handcuffs, Hurt/Comfort, Muzzles, Platonic Relationships, Protective Keith (Voltron), Protective Lance (Voltron), Tasers, Whump, badass galra butkicking, captured by the galra, i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-29 14:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19402594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjawrites/pseuds/ninjawrites
Summary: Pidge, Lance, and Keith wake up in a Galra Prison cell after a mission gone wrong. Lance and Keith are both hurt in their own way, but Pidge is delirious floating in and out of consciousness. Only two paladins are needed to take to Zarkon, but Keith and Lance aren’t going to let anyone take their little sister.





	Protective

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first attempt at writing major whump. Given that I was too excited to wait to post it, it is mostly unedited and may have some errors, so good luck with that lol. Hope you enjoy!

Lance begins to stir, noticing the feeling of an icy hard surface beneath his cheek. He lets out a groan, the ground seeming to spin as he tries to sit up. Leaning forward, he feels a sharp pain in his shoulders and realizes his hands are restrained at his back. 

He hears a muffled voice call through the darkness, barely enough light to make out the shape of another figure across the room. He blinks a few times as the room stops shaking and his blurry vision starts to clear.

“Keith!” Lances heart drops as he rushes over to his teammate. Keith lies sprawled on the floor, black hair sweaty and draped over his face. His hands are restrained behind him, and Lance’s gut clenches as he realizes his mouth is covered and locked in a Galra muzzle.

“Quiznack.” Lance tries his best to help his teammate up from the floor, so that he is sitting steadily on his knees. Keith winces as he experiences a splitting pain through his head, and Lance lets him lean forward on his shoulder. 

“That’s it, just breathe dude. I need you to stay calm.” Lance felt his own nausea building in his stomach, though he wasn’t sure if it was solely from seeing Keith in such a state.

“I think they drugged us with something.” He felt Keith pull back slightly and nod in agreement.

“Shit man what did they do to you?” Lance tries to pull together a recollection of what happened. Obviously they’d somehow been captured, the mission they went on had been to retrieve a specific batch of intel required a stealth mission on one of the Galra’s smaller server ships. Lance and Keith were supposed to cover Pidge while she extracted the necessary files from—

The two of them must have had the realization simultaneously, because both their head shot up at the same time, eyes wide.

“Pidge!” Lance exclaimed, Keith’s own voice muffled by the mask. They turned their heads frantically, searching the darkened cell for any sign of their other teammate. 

Keith’s eyes locked on first, Lance immediately after. They scrambled over to the opposite corner of the cell, where Pidge lay motionless on the floor, hands cuffed in front of her.

“No no no no Pidge...” Lance struggled in his cuffs, desperate to reach out and cradle her. Keith laid an ear down to her chest, waiting for event the slightest sign of life. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard the faint throb of a heartbeat through the armored chest-plate. He looked up at Lance and nodded, trying his best to convey through his eyes that yes, Pidge was still alive.

Lance let out his own breath. “Thank quiznack.” His eyes moved from Keith to Pidge, biting his lip in thought. 

“I have an idea.” Lance shuffled back to give himself enough room, then rolled backwards onto his shoulders, letting his legs stretch above his head. With quite a bit of effort, he then wiggled his hips through his handcuffed arms and slipped his legs though as he rolled back upright. He held his hands up in front of him. “Got it!” 

Lance shifted closer to Pidge, gently brushing her hair away from her face. He examined it as best he could in the dim light, making sure there was no sign of major injury. He looked down at her body, searching for any obvious wounds or compromised pieces of armor, though seeing in the dim light was still incredibly difficult.

“Okay, she’s not bleeding or anything, but that doesn’t mean she’s not injured internally.” Lance stated mechanically, knowing he couldn’t get too emotional in such a dangerous situation. “She’s probably been drugged too, but I think we burned it off first because we’re larger.” He turned to see Keith was no longer at their side but standing by the door, looking out the small window in the door of their cell into the purple lit hallway.

“Anyone coming?” 

Keith shook his head.

“Here dude,” Lance reached towards Keith. “We’ve got to get that thing off of you.” 

Keith took another look out the window before reluctantly walking over and sitting down besides Lance. He bent forward while Lance reached behind his head, fingers searching for some sort of latch or unlocking mechanism. He bit his lip in frustration when he could find no such thing. 

Lance attempted to pull at parts of the mask, but it was clamped on so tightly it wouldn’t budge in the least. Keith closed his eyes, wincing slightly when Lance shifted it wrong. 

“Sorry man, I’m really trying I–” His hands began to get frantic. He tried to hold back the tears he could feel welling up, his heart yearning to get this horrific thing off of his friend,.

Lance struggled until it became too much for Keith. Keith pulled back, shaking his head. 

It was no use. The muzzle was locked into place.

“No no no we have to get this off.” Lance pleaded. Then he paused, watching as Keith attempted the same maneuver he had earlier, rolling back to try and shimmy his hips through the restraints.

Keith tried and struggled, but it was to no avail. Keith’s arms weren’t as long as Lance, and unfortunately he wasn’t as flexible. He let out a huff of frustration, before trying the opposite way, lifting his hands over his head.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work, unless you can pop it out of your socket–” Lance stopped when he saw Keith’s head snap up, eyes brightening like he had an idea. Keith suddenly turned his shoulder to Lance, gesturing to it with his head, eyes pleading.

It took a second for Lance to register what he had said, and another to realize what Keith wanted him to do.

“NO!” He whispered harshly, a little too loud for their comfort. Both glanced towards the door of the cell. “No way!” Lance repeated quietly, though with just as much fervor. 

Keith glared at him, kicking him lightly in the shin.

“Ow! No, you are my friend I’m not going to hurt you.” Lance sent him an equally rebellious glare. “Besides, you idiot, you’ll be just as useless with a limp arm in front of you than two good arms behind you—”

Their argument was interrupted by a sound of movement next to them, along with a small groan.

“Pidge, Pidge can you hear me?” Lance shifted closer to her as she stirred. Keith did the same, though Lance could see it hurt him not being able to take her into his arms. Pidge rolled slightly, this time letting out a small cry.

“Pidge, it’s alright we’re here.” Lance brushed one of his cuffed hands along her cheek. Her eyes opened barely enough to show glossy glazed over eyes. 

“That’s my girl, come on.” Lance tried his best to sooth her, knowing the sedative probably wouldn’t burn off as fast as it did for them. Keith was now close enough to be leaning into him, desperate to get into her field of view. 

“M-Matt….” She mumbled, a slight smile on her cheeks as she looked between them. Keith and Lance glanced to each other before turning their focus back on Pidge.

“T-That’s right…we’re your brothers…” Lance said shakily. “We’re gonna get you out of here okay?” 

Pidge nodded in response before closing her eyes, her head rolling to the side.

“Pidge? Pidge!” Lance said before letting out a curse. He felt her temperature then counted her pulse on her neck. “It’s regular, I think she just needs to burn off more of the sedative.” Keith nodded, though Lance had never seen so much worry in someone's eyes before. 

Pidge was definitely going to need more time before she was fully aware, but they had to think of a plan quickly. 

Suddenly, they heard footsteps in the hallway.

Keith and Lance shot to their feet, standing protectively over Pidge. A burly Galra guard opened the door, allowing for a slimmer but taller Galra captain to step into the cell, boots thumping loudly on the floor. In the small gap between her and the door, Keith’s eyes noticed their bayards hanging from the hip of the larger guard. 

“Ah, I see you’ve awoken. I guess we misjudged the dosage.” The general’s head cocked with a smirk as she laid eyes on Pidge’s body. “For some of you at least.”

“You’ll regret messing with Voltron.” Lance hissed. Something resembling a low growl echoed from Keith’s throat throughout the cell.

The captain echoed Keith’s response with a growl of her own. “Ah, I see the guards were smart to muzzle this one.” She turned to Lance. “From my point of view it is Voltron who messed with the Galra Empire. Zarkon will be pleased to have two of the paladins of Voltron as his prisoners.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Are you really that dumb or-” He stopped as the captain’s meaning hit him. Another growl from Keith confirmed his suspicions.

“Oh, one of you will not survive with the druids. We need as much information as possible and are easily willing to sacrifice a prisoner to get it.” A smirk lifted on a corner of her mouth, as her eyes laid on Pidge one more time. “The small one will do.” 

“You’ll die before you take her!” Lance snarled, lunging forward and managing an uppercut to the captain’s chin. It barely knocked her back but she retaliated, grasping Lance by the jugular and lifting him from the ground. 

Keith took the opportunity to kick off the doorway and land a knee into the captain’s back, knocking her down to her knees and Lance out of her grip. He lunged towards the larger guard, imagining twelve different ways to take him down, before he felt a blinding sharp pain through his nerves.

The handcuffs had delivered an electric shock.

Keith fell to the floor, the intensity of the shock causing him to convulse. His vision wavered, as he saw Lance convulsing on the floor of the cell before suddenly going still. The captain had a remote in her hands, and a sly smirk on her face. His eyes turned toward Pidge, who still lay motionless, before the corners of his vision darkened and he faded out.

* * *

Pidge awoke to find herself being dragged along the floor by her wrists. 

Her eyes snapped open to see down the length of the purple hallway. She blinked, trying to gain a sense of her surroundings, noticing two figures in blue and red being dragged down the hall in the opposite direction.

Oh no.

“Lance! Keith!” She shouted, only to be yanked by her wrists hard. The large Galra who had apparently been dragging her, lifted her up in front to meet her eye.

“Hey, you need to shut up you little–” 

Pidge spit in his eye, taking him by surprise. While he used his free hand to wipe his face, she landed a kick to his groin, causing him to jerk forward. She took that opportunity to consecutively knee him in the head, hard. 

His grip released and she hit the ground, as the Galra landed on all fours in front of her. She leaped over him, landing on his back and grabbing hold of her bayard, which was hooked to his belt. Once in hand, it activated, slicing through the rope that held it. With one aim, Pidge shot the grappling hook forward to bounce off the head of the Galra, knocking him out cold.

She quickly unlocked her cuffs using the guard’s magnetic key, and pocketed it. She then turned to see Lance and Keith being dragged around a far corner, none of the other guards noticing her little skirmish. She grabbed the other two bayards, letting them dissolve into her belt and bolted down the hallway towards her teammates. 

“Hey!” She shouted as she turned the corner, ready to fight. The two guards turned curiously to face her, before dropping their prisoners to the floor and aiming their laser guns.

“Stand down!” They shouted, which only caused her to give a devilish smirk. A they walked forward, she gave an evil laugh, her eyes wide and maniacal through the hair draped over her face. 

“You’re going to regret messing with my brothers.” She snarled, then charged forward, ducking low to evade the rifle shots. 

She slid along the floor, shooting her bayard up to knock the rifle out of one guard’s hands. It hooked into the ceiling, propelling her enough to jump off the side wall and land a kick to the other guard’s head, knocking him out.

She caught herself in a lunge, sliding back as she landed. She was now between her teammates and the last guard, who was running back to grab his rifle lost. She scoffed at his error, taking aim with her bayard as he ran. The Galra must be getting lazy with their new recruits, she thought, shooting out the grapple to knock him directly in the back of the head. 

He fell to the floor with a thump, out cold before he could reach his precious weapon.

Pidge huffed in and out, her adrenaline starting to fade as she judged her surroundings to be clear. This was a server ship, not a battle cruiser, so these guards were probably the only ones on board, other than the big one she knocked out earlier. 

However, where there was a crew, there was also a captain.

With no time to waste, Pidge crouched besides Keith and Lance, checking over them to make sure there were no major visible injuries. Her stomach dropped as she noticed half of Keith’s face was obscured by a Galran muzzle. 

“No, no oh my god Keith.” She reached in her belt frantically for the magnetic key, unlocking both her teammates hand cuffs, then tentatively reaching up to Keith’s mask. She prayed silently that it would work.

With a touch of the key, the muzzle beeped and released it’s grip.

Pidge let out a breath of relief, removing it gently from Keith’s face, then proceeding to vault it across the length of the hallway.

“Come on guys, wake up!” She rocked both of their shoulders as hard as she could. “I can’t carry both of your fat asses.”

Lance woke with a start, and Keith groaned as he turned face up. 

“You guys are okay!” She lunged forward to hug both of them at the same time. 

“Pidge!” They both shouted simultaneously, and wrapped their arms tight around her. 

“Oh my god you’re okay!” Keith said, burying his face in her shoulder.

Lance’s face lit up.“Mullet! You’re talking!” Once Pidge released both of them, Lance tackled Keith in a hug. Keith lifted a hand to his mouth where the muzzle used to be, his eyes turning to Pidge.

“You found the key?” He asked.

“Look, gratitude later. There aren’t many guards on this ship but we need to get back to Green before the—AAAAgh!”

“Pidge!” Keith caught Pidge as she was knocked back, clutching her side. Lance’s shield shot up to defend from multiple laser shots coming from the end of the hall. 

“It’s the captain!” Lance yelled

“Shit,” Pidge cursed. She lifted her hand to reveal a singed gash across her abdomen, blood seeping slowly through the cauterized flesh. 

“We have to get back to Green! Now!” Keith ordered, scooping Pidge up in his arms and lifting. She let out a cry at the sudden movement.

“Roger that.” Lance said, walking backwards as he covered them from the gunfire.

“Wait!” Pidge reached towards Lance, and Keith stopped. She reached to her belt to have the blue bayard materialize in her hand. “You…ngh…need this.” 

Lance turned to see his bayard and a sly smirk lifted on his face. “Thanks Pidge.” He winked before turning back to the Galra captain with a fully materialized rifle in his hand. “Now go!”

Keith hurried down the hall with Pidge, Lance following closely behind. By the time they made it back to Green she was ready to go, eyes lit and jaw open. They hopped on to the lion, dodging the last trickles of laser fire that bounced too close for comfort as she closed her mouth and lifted off.

* * *

Lance paced in front of the healing pod, arms crossed over his chest. Keith sat besides the pod on the step, fingers intertwined and pressed to his face, his knee bouncing.

“Will you stop that?” Keith snapped. “You’re making me dizzy.”

“I can’t man!” Lance lifted his arms. “She just….she looks so small.” Lance turned to Pidge, who stood dormant in the Altean pod. 

Keith’s frustration immediately dissolved and he lifted himself to stand next to Lance. 

“She’s tough, she’ll be alright.” He said, laying a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance’s shoulders relaxed at the touch. “I can’t believe we almost lost her.”

“But we didn’t. She ended up saving us, remember?”

Lance let out a breath, a small smile lifting on his cheeks. “I guess you’re right.” He turned to Keith. “Are you sure you’re okay, by the way? I don’t even want to know what it was like to—”

Keith lifted a hand to stop him from saying more. He took a deep breath. “It’s something I’ll probably have nightmares about but…focusing on Pidge helped keep me stable. She’s like a little sister to me, I’d put her safety before mine any day.”

Lance nodded. “Me too.” He elbowed Keith in the ribs gently. “But your safety matters too, remember that. Pidge can’t lose another brother…and neither can I.” 

Keith inhaled. “I’ll try.”

“Good.” 

Suddenly the pod hissed, letting out a cloud of vapor. Lance and Keith stepped forward just in time to catch Pidge as she fell forward out of the casing. 

She blinked up at them with a half-drunk smile. “Sup bitches.”

Lance let out a snort as Keith rolled his eyes. 

“Good to have you back Pidge.” Keith laughed as Lance rustled her hair atop her head.


End file.
